The quotation in the title is spoken by Mrs Reed, Jane Eyre's aunt. Charlotte Bronte uses it to inform the reader that Jane is imaginative, headstrong, wild and impulsive. My essay will include a discussion of our first meeting with Jane Eyre until the end of her school life.
The first time we meet Jane she is living at her Aunt Reeds' house with her cousins John, Georgiana and Elizabeth. Shortly into the first chapter she is involved in a fight with her cousin, John, and we find out that he physically abuses her.Jane is sitting alone reading a book, which makes us think that she wants to escape from the family, when John finds her and shouts at her, trying to make her call him master. When she refuses to do so he hits her and calls her a 'rat', he then throws a book at her and she responds by calling him a 'wicked and cruel boy'.
She compares him to a murderer, a slave driver and says he is like the Roman emperors. This behaviour shows us that she is not a typical Victorian child because she doesn't follow the guidelines of being seen and not heard or only speaking when spoken to. Another typical guideline that Jane does not follow is respecting her elders.This incident informs the reader that Jane is very childish in the sense that she should have left the situation instead of making it worse by calling names and screaming. It also show the reader that, at the same time as being childish, Jane is quite defensive of herself and she is determined to change her life at home. This is shown more when her aunt shouts at her and gives her a punishment.
Jane shouts back to her aunt. I think, in this chapter, Jane is a lot smarter than her family can appreciate because I think she has noticed that no - one is fond of her. We know they aren't fond of her because they tell her to 'sit down and be silent'.The punishment, for the incident mentioned, is to put Jane into the Red Room. In the Red Room Jane starts to imagine things and starts hallucinating.
In this chapter Bronte uses some methods such as Jane's inner thoughts and her interactions with other characters to show the reader how Jane's character is presented.While in the Red Room Jane is left with her inner thoughts, which allows the reader to experience how her mind works. We are given access to her thoughts, fears and imaginations. We are shown this when she tells Bessie that she saw and light and thought a ghost might come.The analysis of her own character allows us to see her through a different person's point of view. We also witness how others treat her, which enables us to feel sympathetic towards her.
We feel sympathetic when Abbot calls her an ' underhand little thing'. This comment degrades Jane because she is nothing more than a 'thing' to Abbot.The next time we hear of Jane she is meeting with Mr Brocklehurst. Mr Brocklehurst is the owner of Lowood School and he is there to visit her as Jane told her aunt that she would like to leave Gateshead for schooling elsewhere.When Jane first meets Mr Brocklehurst at Gateshead, the home of her aunt, he is very stern and says that if she doesn't change her ways she will go to hell.
He tells her she has a wicked heart and after that Jane is told, by her Aunt Reed, to sit down and she is kept out of the conversation. After this we learn that Jane is accepted to Lowood.On Jane's first day of school at Lowood, Mr Brocklehurst punishes her on the reasons given by her aunt for her attendance at Lowood. He makes her feel embarrassed and ashamed by making her stand on a chair while he tells the class how bad and wicked she is. It also makes her feel like her chances of success have been ruined because she was put down after she had made an improvement on her life and people had started treating her like an equal.These incidents show us that Jane has developed a lot more because she is starting to care about having a successful life and future.
We can also see that Jane has started to develop into a typical Victorian child because she is accepting the fact that she has to be punished and she is taking the punishments given to her without voicing her opinions. Jane is also developing into a typical Victorian child by only speaking when spoken to and she has become calmer and less boisterous.The reader learns more about Jane's character through the meeting of her first friend, Helen Burns. Jane meets Helen at school and quickly becomes friends with her. She learns a lot from her; she finds respect and learns how to do the best in situations.
We also learn, at the start of chapter nine, that Jane realises that there is a world outside the walls and security of Lowood and her previous home, Gateshead. We learn this when she says 'I discovered, too, that a great pleasure ...lay all outside the high and spike-guarded walls of our garden'.
But, not long after their friendship is created, Jane finds out that Helen is dying and she feels compelled to see her. Her actions here show the reader that Jane is loyal in their friendship and she has a deep affection for Helen. From her final conversation with Helen, Jane learns that Helen believes in a God that Jane has never yet experienced. We realise Jane has never experienced a faith or God when she asks Helen questions such as, ' Where is God? What is God?' and 'Shall I see you again ...
when I die?'In the last chapter Jane tells the reader how she feels about her life, ' during these eight years my life was uniform: but not unhappy'. This lets the reader know that she has enjoyed her time at Lowood and that it turned out to be better than she was told it would.It is also made clear, in this chapter, that Jane's teacher, Miss Temple, made a great impact on Jane's life. Jane tells us that 'from the day she left I was no longer the same'.
We learn that Jane has adapted some of Miss Temple's character traits in the way she wants to end her time at Lowood and move on to the world outside school. When Jane makes this decision she advertises ' A young lady accustomed to tuition is desirous in meeting with a situation in a private family where the children are under fourteen'.Other methods by which the reader's understanding of the development of Jane's character is through the imagery and similes used.In chapter one Jane compares herself to a Turk, from this the reader can gather that she feels out of place and like a foreigner in her own home. Chapter two compares her with a mad - cat which suggests she is passionate and wild. The imagery that is used is of God and Death.
In the first chapter it is said that ' God will punish her' and ' strike her dead in the midst of her tantrums'. This reveals that although Jane Eyre did not have any recollection of a faith or of God, it was always present in her life and it was well known with everyone else in her family and friends.It seems that Bronte shows the reader that Jane Eyre has developed a lot in the first ten chapters of the story, but, the definition of the quotation used in the title has stayed the same most of the way through. In the end Jane is more independent and less childish. She doesn't act on her impulse as much and she isn't as imaginative as she used to be.
People and society helped her to be the person she was at the end of her schooling at Lowood and she is determined in her new career and positive about her future.
